Electoral Politics in Punjab: 1966-2004

Punjab as a state holds a unique position in India as religion, caste, region, language and leadership factors combine differently in different elections to produce contrasting electoral outcomes. Over the last three decades virtually a bipolar party system has come to stay in the state, where power has been alternating between the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress, the two major contenders for power. The durability of the alliance between the SAD and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can be explained in terms of the long-standing anti-Congress tradition of the SAD and the complementary electoral bases of the two parties. Parliamentary and assembly elections since 1996 have significantly reflected a shift in the electoral politics of Punjab in the sense that politicoeconomic issues have increasingly replaced the ethno-religious issues. Also discernable is the shift from anti-centre stand to cooperative federalism and from a politics of confrontation to peace and HinduSikh unity. Such a shift in the political agenda of SAD represent the yearning of the people in today’s post-militancy Punjab to have a break from Gurudwara politics and hope for lasting peace and prosperity. _____________________________________________________________